Clothes for Health and Community Development PCVs

You can find very inexpensive used clothing in the markets in Guinea and also get some neat stuff made. You’re really just packing for three months of training right now. After you’re more familiar with Guinea, you’ll be able to find and buy almost everything you need in country.

Cotton Underwear (14-20)

Bras (W: 2-5, 1-2 nice ones for your own sanity, 1-2 sport bras)

Two nice outfits suitable for conferences and/or meetings in the states (W – skirts or dresses or nice slacks and blouse)

Low reading level English books for adults (magazines with lots of pictures are good)

Miscellaneous:

Lots of hairclips and bobby pins

Halgen water bottle (available at sporting goods stores)

Leatherman utility knife (has multiple blades and devices)

Headlamp (halogen or LED)

Regular flashlight

Pillow

CD/cassette player and plenty of music CDs/tapes

Can opener

Rare spices (or ones you like a lot)

Crystal Light drink mix

Sauce packets (like Knor) to add variety to the rice

US stamps (letter and $3.50 stamps for small packages)

Envelops which seal with a sticker

Girlie stuff (a little makeup, good smelling cream, etc)

Lots of film (Guinean film sucks)

Stuff that makes you feel good and comfortable

$500 in $100 bills for traveling (traveler’s checks are hard to cash and have poor exchange rates)

Don’t Bring:

A French-English dictionary (unless it’s tiny) the Peace Corps will give you a big one
Basic medications (PC will supply these)
Lots of toiletries (you won’t need them or can purchase them in Guinea)
Lots of books (there are good libraries at the regional houses which you will visit periodically)

Do Bring (because they’re hard or impossible to find in Guinea):

A good pillow

Music

Good pens

Advice:

Don’t bring anything with spandex – it will feel like rubber in the heat!

How you dress strongly influences how you’re treated in Guinea. Skirts above the knee, skimpy tops, or anything too tight will mark you as a child because that’s how they dress. Certainly bring a fun outfit or two for the capital, but for day-to-day wear, favor more conservative dress. Tank tops are fine – don’t worry!

You can get almost everything in Guinea, but it might not be exactly how you like it.

You’re really just packing for three months of training right now. After you’re more familiar with Guinea, you’ll be able to find and buy almost everything you need in country.

What to Bring (everybody)

Comments: Africa will be here, with or without your stuff. That said, here’s the compilation of our obsession with What We Wish We Had Brought. In general, you want to pack enough clothes to get you comfortably through 3 months of training, and then use the rest of the space to put in the things that are most important to you. There is no perfect list, it’s a matter of priority. And bring what makes you happy and kicks ass — like platform shoes and that fave pair of black jeans. Plus, anything that doesn’t fit into your luggage will be a GREAT care package item for your family to send. Don’t stress!

If it’s in this color it means we think you’d really like to have it.

Luggage

You’ll be in a lot of airports in the beginning. The dream-combo of luggage is:

Huge bag on wheels for heavy stuff

Large internal frame pack, inside a huge duffel bag. This serves to protect all the straps on the frame pack, plus to give you another bag to use, and some extra space.

Carry on: a nice medium sized hiking backpack — that funny size that’s larger than a day pack and smaller than your standard overnight pack. Kelty Redwing overnight has been recommended. Plus, a pillow, outside of your day pack.

U.S. Postage stamps, both letter-rate and priority-rate ($3). One of the best ways to get letters home is to send them with travelers going to the U.S., and they can post your letters for you. Bring about 5 books of the self-stick kind.

Art stuff: colored pencils, crayons, markers

Nalgene water bottle and/or Platypus

Music players. You can buy boom-boxes here for $30-100 if you want.

Lots of music

Camera and camera batteries

Replacement bulbs for flashlight, esp. for mini-maglite

Good batteries w/ built-in tester. You cannot get C-batteries in-country